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BY 



HON. WM. McKEE DUNN, LL. D., 



EX-JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL OF THE U. S. ARMY. 



DELIVERED AT THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL COMMENCEMENT OF HANOVER 

COLLEGE, 

JUNE 1.3, 1883. 



MADISON, IND.: 

THE COURIER COMPANY, PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 

1883. 



HANOVBE COLLEGE. 



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Forty years ago the tide of emigration flowed rapidly and steadily from the east 
toward the broad and fertile plains of the great West. The Presbyterian church was 
weak and her ministers few. An educated ministry trained up in the midst of this 
growing population was a felt necessity. To meet this necessity, Hanover Academy 
was organized in 1828, which, in 1833, was incorporated as a College. 

Since that time the Institution has gone steadily forward— at times under great 
difficulties and discouragements— accomplishing in a high degree the work for which 
it was founded. Of the 332 graduates of the College, 163 have studied Theology: about 
50 have become teachers; and of the remainder, a large proportion are filling positions 
of usefulness and honor. From 4.000 to 5.000 young men have studied within its halls. 
800 of whom have devoted themselves to the sacred ministry. 

In the comparatively brief period of its existence, the institution has enjoyed 27 
revivals of religion, the last of which has just been experienced. Many of the students 
and of the citizens on the last Sabbath of February, publically professed their faith in 
Christ, some of the latter having past the meridian of life. Thus has the Lord again 
set his seal of approbation on the College at Hanover. 

The Institution is under the care of the two synods of Indiana. One-half of the 
Trustees are appointed by the synods, and the other half are elected by the Board 
itself. 



The College is situated on one of the bluffs of the Ohio River, six miles below the 
city of Madison. The different railroads and the river place it within twenty-four bonis 
of the principal points in Indiana. Kentucky. Western Ohio and Illinois. A new rail- 
road is also in prospect on the north side of the Ohio, from Cincinnati to New Albany. 
A hack runs daily from Madison through Hanover. 

The location is remarkable for the unrivaled beauty of its scenery, its healthful- 
ness and its freedom from the ordinary temptations to vice pertaining to towns and 
cities. No intoxicating liquors are sold in the village or township. Persons can judge 
lor themselves of the effect of these things upon the character, habits and interests of 
the students. 

Seligievs iffi^tettciton*) 

All the students meet at 9 o'clock A. M., on Sabbath to receive Biblical instruction. 
Divine service is conducted at 3 o'clock P. M., each Sabbath, by the President or one 
of the Professors. Every student, unless excused, is required to attend these exercises. 
All of them are also expected to attend the morning services of the congregation in 
the village. There is. also a weekly prayer-meeting in the College, under the super- 
vision of the Faculty, and the students hold weekly meetings in their rooms. The 
Scriptures are read in the original languages during the course. - 



Ctoneral deiise ef l&ftteuetf «n« 

This i> divided into three departments. 

1st. The Preparatory Department, which i* arranged in two divisions, called the 
junior and senior, emhracing one year each. To enter this department, the student 
must have studied English Grammar, Geography and Arithmetic. 

2d. The Scientific Department, embracing every thing tought in the Collegiate 
Course, except the Ancient Languages. The majority in this department study Latin 
to some extent 

3d. The Collegiate Department, extending over a period of four years from the 
time the student enters the Freshman (lass. 

lenra ei Vulifen* 

Tuition is $30 per year, which may he paid in three portions, one at the beginning 
of each session, in addition to the tuition, a Contingent Fee of $10 is charged to meet 
the incidental expenses of the College. 

There are under the control of the Faculty, a limited number of scholarships, upon 
which students, who may need such assistance— especially candidates for the minis- 
try—can he placed 



The hooks and instruments needed in the course, are kept for sale by one of the 
Professors, at Cincinnati prices. 



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Boarding may be had in private families — including a furnished room— at from 
$3 to $4 per week. A limited number of students can be accommodated at the College 
boarding house at $2 50 per week, furnishing in part their own rooms. 

The College Year is divided into two terms, and three sessions. The 1st term be- 
gins on the first Wednesday of September, and continues 1(5 weeks The 2d term be- 
gins on the first Wednesday of January and continues 24 weeks. The Annual Com- 
mencement occurs on the Thursday before the 25th of June. A recess of a few days is 
given at the close of the first session of the second term, at the first of April. 



The Church has in this College the product of 40 years" care and labor; a large. 
substantial and well appointed building, situated amid the most beautiful scenery on 
the charming Ohio, and every facility for the acquisition of a thorough education. It 
was founded for a noble purpose, and consecrated by the prayers and tears of the 
godly fathers who are now enjoying their reward in heaven. Shall their hopes be di> 
appointed? Will their descendants prove recreant to their sacred trust? Will they 
not continue to rally round the Institution with increasing zeal and energy, and fill 
its halls with students, and place it on a broad and solid foundation? Will not >ome- 
whom God hath blessed with means, imitate the example of Mrs. Lapsley and of tin- 
late Rev. W. A. Ilolliday. and give of their substance to enlarge and complete its en- 
dowment? Dear reader, we respectfully ask you to consider the claims and advan- 
tages of this Institution, and to give it your influence and patronage. Send us your 
sons, and remember us in your prayers. 



like Btaeutty. 



Rev. G. D. ARCH IRA LI). D. I).. I'res. and Prof, of Moral Science 

Rev. S. II. THOMSON. A. M . Prof. Mathematics. 

Rev. J. B. GARRITT, A. M , Prof. Ancient Languages. 

Rev. E. .J. HAMILTON, A M.. Prof. Mental Phil, and Logic 

Prof. F II. BRADLEY, Afcl*. Natural Sciences 

Rev. L B. \V. BHRYOCK, A. M.. Prof. Ex. of Latin, and Fin. Agent. 

Hanover, Ind., March 5th, 1869. 






EARLY HISTORY OF HANOVER COLLEGE. 



AN ADDRESS BY HON. Wm. McKEE DUNN, LL. D., EX-JUDGE 
ADVOCATE GENERAL OF THE U. S. ARMY. 



Delivered at the Semi-Cent ennial Commencement of Hanover College, June 13th, 1883. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

The duty assigned to me, in the programme of the celebration of 
this Semi-Centennial of Hanover College, is to address you on the 
early history of the College. Now, if I should at once turn my back 
on my text, I trust the learned Doctors of Divinity and other clergy- 
men present will not be the first to cast stones at me. I propose, in 
the first place, to speak of the early history of 

THE HANOVER NEIGHBORHOOD. 

We do not have to grope among fables and legends to find the 
time when this settlement began. The beginning is definitely fixed 
at a distance of three-quarters of a century. To reach this point, we 
must go back in our country's history to a time when Kentucky and 
Ohio were border States, and Indiana Territory the frontier territory 
of the West; to a time when Thomas Jefferson was President of the 
United States, and William Henry Harrison was Governor of the Ter- 
ritory of Indiana; to a time when a narrow strip of land along this 
border had, not long before, been purchased from the Indians, recent- 
ly surveyed and within a year offered for sale by the Government; to 
a time when the puff of a steamboat had never been heard on the 
Ohio River, and no county of Jefferson or town of Madison was known 
on its western shore. Could we reverse the course of time and go 
back by years and decades, and all the familiar objects around us, 
this College, the Church, the houses and all the works of man disap- 
pear as in a dissolving view, and in their places the works of nature 



be restored, the majestic trees again grouping themselves together in 
the grandeur of silence and greatness in which they had stood for 
centuries, then we would reach near the time of the commencement 
of the settlement of this neighborhood. The wild beasts still roamed 
in the forest and the Indians yet lingered in the hunting grounds they 
had reluctantly sold. Then occasionally might be seen men on horse- 
back, usually two or three together, winding their way through the 
deeply shaded forests, turning aside sometimes to avoid impenetrable 
thickets, keeping together for company and mutual protection. They 
were armed with old-fashioned flint-lock rifles ; for they might have 
an opportunity to shoot a deer or a bear, or possibly they might find 
their rifles convenient for pacifying lurking, treacherous Indians. 
They were a land hunters; 1 ' that is, men from Kentucky or elsewhere 
seeking homes in this great wilderness. They examined this tract of 
land and others in the neighborhood. One of them remained and in- 
spected with great care the soil, the timber, the stones, the springs 
and brooks on this tract. He found that there was not an acre that 
was not fit for cultivation and that it was well watered on every side. 
There was not a better tract of land for farming purposes in all this 
neighborhood. This "land-hunter," a young, vigorous, determined- 
looking man, made careful examination and note of the surveyors' 
marks on the trees, so as to be sure of his tract, and then rode away. 
A day or two afterwards, he might have been seen at the Land Office 
in Jefferson ville, making purchase of this land. When he received 
his certificate of purchase, he found it to read about as follows: — 

November 28, 1808. 
"This certifies that Williamson Dunn, of Mercer County, Kentucky, has this day purchased from 
the United States, the southwest quarter of section twelve, (12) town three (£) north, range nine 
(9) enst, in the Jeffersonville land district." 

And thus this quarter-section of land, which the Indians had orig- 
inally held by tribal-tenure, and the United States had held as part 
of the National domain, became, for the first time since the world was 
created, so far as we know, the property of a private individual. Then 
this quarter-section became a separate blank leaf on which its history 
was yet to be written. The purchaser returned here the next autumn 
to take possession of his land. He was accompanied by his wife and 
two little boys. The mother was but eighteen years of age, and did 
not look like a person well suited to meet the privations and hard- 
ships incident to the settlement of a new country. The first thing to 
be done by this pioneer in the "forest primeval," was to get a shelter 
lor his little family ; so he looked carefully over his land to find a 
site, not for a school-house, nor for a church, nor for a col logo, but for 



his log cabin. This must be on an elevation and near to a spring of 
never-failing water. The site he selected was just east of and adjoin- 
ing the house where Prof. Young now resides. There, with such as- 
sistance as was available, he speedily erected a cabin and entered it 
with his little family. This was the beginning of the settlement of 
this neighborhood.* Then, that he might have sunlight and fields 
for culture, he commenced the arduous labor of cutting down and 
burning up the immense forest trees that stood thickly around. The 
rifle, the axe and the log cabin have ever been in the vanguard of 
civilization in its march across this continent. Settlers came in rap- 
idly, and the stroke of the axe and the sound of falling trees, the 
burning of logs and the blazing of brush heaps, were the sounds and 
sights most familiar ab >ut here. Sometimes I almost imagine that 
those great trees were sentient beings and sympathize with them in 
the horror which they must have felt, as these sounds and fires pre- 
saged the doom from which they had no power to escape. 

These early settlers were mostly Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, 
who, or their ancestors, had emigrated from the north of Ireland to 
Virginia, thence to Kentucky and thence to these new homes. The 
neighborhood southwest of this — the Crirmel neighborhood — was 
settled by the same class of emigrants, except that they were Pres- 
byterians of a sterner sort, commonly called Seceders. I must be 
permitted here to say of these settlers of both neighborhoods, that, 
according to my remembrance and observation, they were the most 
orderly, industrious and religious people I have ever found among 
the pioneers of any country. These hardy pioneers had to pay two 
dollars an acre for their heavily timbered land, whilst for many years 
past the Government has been giving to every actual settler a quar- 
ter-section of as good land as the sun shines on. 

Three years after this" first settlement, the war of 1812 with Eng- 
land commencad, and the Indians became dangerous neighbors. 
They massacred nearly a whole settlement at "Pigeon Roost, " near 
where now is Vienna, Scott county. This massacre created great 

*NOTE.— Christopher Harrison, a bachelor from Maryland, who, from a disappointment in love, 
as was supposed, sought the solitude of the Western Wilderness, had, a few months before Judge 
Dunn's purchase, bought land adjoining on the east. Mr. Harrison, a few years afterwards, sold 
his beautiful place to George Logan, Esq., and the property remains in the Logan family to this 
day. Mr. Harrison moved to Salem and, on the organization of the State, was elected our first 
Lieutenant-Governor. Dr. David H. Maxwell bought, and, for several years, lived on the quar- 
ter-section immediately south of Judge Dunn's tract. He sold it to Amos Butler. Dr. Maxwell, 
Samuel Smock and Nathaniel Hunt were the delegates from this county to the convention which 
met at Corydon in 1816, and made the constitution under which Indiana was admitted into the Un- 
ion. The enrolled copy of this constitution on file in the office of the Secretary of State, is in 
Dr. Maxwell's excellent handwriting. Not long after Judge Dunn's purchase, he bought the ad- 
joining quarter-section on the north, and, afterwards, considerable land adjoining on the west. 



alarm among the scattered inhabitants along this frontier. For 
the protection of these inhabitants Congress passed an act for 
raising companies of mounted troops, called Rangers. These troops 
were to scout along the frontier to prevent incursions of marauding, 
murderous bands of Indians. Williamson Dunn, my father, raised 
and was made Captain of one of these companies. Almost every 
able-bodied man of this neighborhood joined his company. This was 
the best means for protecting their families. After the Cap- 
tain and his Rangers entered upon their duties, their families, in- 
cluding my mother and her four little children (two hrving been 
added to the family in their new home) sough! refuge and protection 
in a stockade on the Maxwell farm, the place on which Mr. French 
now lives. The Captain of the Rangers was absent from home most 
of the time for nearly a year. Meanwhile, danger from Indians 
on this frontier ceased; but fear of them still remained in the 
minds of the women and. children. Everything is so peaceful and 
bright about here now, and you are so safe in your homes, that it is 
difficult for you lo appreciate the darkness of the woods and the ter- 
ror of the Indians, that filled the minds of the women and children 
in the days of which I have been speaking. Two little personal in- 
cidents that occurred about this time, may perhaps enable you to un- 
derstand this feeling better than you would from any general state- 
ment. 

Not long after the Captain's family had taken their place in the 
stockade, something was wanted from the home. The Captain's 
eldest son, a little boy about six years of age, was sent over for it 
with a colored boy somewhat older — Ike — whom many here knew as 
a man. There were no locks to doors in this region at that time. In 
case a cabin was to be vacated, a small boy, if one were handy, was 
left inside to fasten the door when the rest of the family had gone 
out. This he did by putting a wooden pin obliquely in an augur 
hole in the door-frame and then climbed out a small window. The 
process had to be reversed to open the door. On this occasion, when 
Ike was pushing my brother through the window to open the door, 
he heard a noise in the bushes near by, and his mind being filled 
with the fear of Indians, he hurriedly thrust the little fellow through 
the window and took to his heels. My brother fell on his forehead 
upon the puncheon floor and received an injury I'wr.n which he never 
fully recovered. 

The other incident to which 1 refer is this : ( !aptain Dunn and his 
Company spent the winter along the Wabash frontier, and were mua 



tered out of the service at Vincennes in March, 1814. His family in 
the meantime had come back to their home and were awaiting his 
return without any definite information as to when he might be ex- 
pected. After his muster out, the Captain started home and at the 
end of several days hard travel through the wilderness, reached 
here about dusk. The lights were streaming brightly from the cabin 
windows. To announce his arrival in military style, he fired off his 
horse-pistols. He was surprised that his salute was not answered by 
the rushing out of his wife and children to meet him. He was still 
more surprised when, on entering the cabin, there was no one to be 
seen. But upon calling his wife by name, she, followed by her little 
children crawled out from under a bed, where they had taken refuge 
in their alarm at the firing of ihe pistols ; and they were rejoiced to 
meet a husband and father instead of the ever-dreaded Indian. 

In December of that year an event happened in that cabin, re- 
markable only in this, that the child born was so very small. So 
small a child was never before seen by any of the dwellers in that 
region, except one old woman. There is always an old woman in 
every neighborhood who has seen, or claims to have seen, more than 
all the other women put together. The women came to see this lit- 
tle child and wondered at his diminutive size. He had such a little 
face, suc'i little hands and feet, indeed was so little all over — they 
had never seen the like before. As they went away talking together, 
they ''reckoned' 1 Mrs. Dunn would never '-raise*' that baby. Indeed 
they did not think he was worth raising and said there were "getting 
to be too many stalks in that hill anyhow.'* The mother shared their 
impression that the little fellow would not survive long, and, there- 
fore, did not bestow upon him the name which she had intended to 
give him, had he been a child of ordinary size and promise. She did 
not wish to name for her stalwart husband, a child who might soon 
carry the beloved name to the grave. Nevertheless, the little fellow 
worried along and began to look as if he had come to stay. And so 
it happened, at the next communion season of the Madison church, 
held in this neighborhood (which was at Mr. Maxwell's barn), when 
with other children, the Captain and his wife brought theirs, includ- 
ing the youngest to be dedicated to the Lord, this child, when "bap- 
tized with water,'* was christened "William McKee** — being thus 
named lor his mother's grandfather who lived in Kentucky — so far 
off as likely never to see, and who never did see, his insignificent 
namesake. Thus you see how I failed to receive the name I would 
have most loved to bear. Nevertheless, I became in time, the largest 



6 

of my father's seven sons, and am said to resemble him more than 
did any other one of his children. 

MISSIONARIES. 

This locality seems to have been favored from the beginning with 
an abundance of preaching. Among the earliest events of my recol- 
lection were the visits of missionaries to my father's house and their 
preaching there and in the school-house. Two of them I well re- 
member. One was Rev. David 0. Proctor, who soon abandoned 
the missionary field and married a widow near Shelbyville, Ken- 
tucky. The other was the Rev. Orin Fowler, who was a favorite 
preacher, and I presume from his language in a letter to my father, 
it had been hoped he would make this his field of labor. The letter 
bears date Fairfield, Connecticut, August 2d, 1819. In this letter, 
writing of his journey home, which was of course on horseback, 
he says : 

"I arrived at my father's after a long and very tiresome journev of sixty or seventy days. Since 
I arrived I have not enjoyed ray usual health, though I have no other than complaints which 
arose in consequence ot the labor and extreme fatigue of my long tour." 

We could now travel from here, or rather from Madison, to Fair- 
field in less than two days. He also, among other messages, sent 
this : 

"Tell McKee he must improve, so that he may be a missionary in good season." 

Well, I failed to become a missionary, but he succeeded in be- 
coming a member of Congress, having been tw r ice elected to the 
House of Representatives from Massachusetts, in 1849 and 1851. In 
the public service he maintained his Christian character and did 
nothing to lower the dignity of his ministerial office. 

I remember now (what did not strike me at the time as strange), 
how great a number of flint arrow-heads were to be found on my 
father's quarter-section. When 1 was a little boy the road most trav- 
eled probably, in the State, passed by the front of our house. Every 
hard rain washed out this road, and after such a wash-out these ar- 
row-heads were to be found along the road. Indeed, they w T ere turn 
ed up elsewhere on the farm at every ploughing. They were of Hint 
stone such as is to be found near by. This may have been a place 
where the Indians manufactured them, or this may have been a scene 
of an Indian battle, or it may have been a favorite hunting-ground. 
I cannot account for the abundance of these arrow-heads: neverthe- 
less, the fact remains that they were abundant. 

THE SCHOOL-HOUSE. 

In traveling over mountains, in rainy weather, when the deep 



valleys were filled with mist arid the mountain tops were covered 
with clouds, I have sometimes seen a gleam of sunshine penetrate 
through a rift in the clouds and rest upon some cot on the distant 
mountain side, bringing it and its surroundings to view with a dis- 
tinctness they would not have hai in an unclouded sky. So, sometimes, 
to my mind, through the obscurity of decades of years, the scenes of 
my childhood appear before me with the distinctness of something re- 
cent and near. Thus, now. my mental vision rests upon the school- 
house, where I commenced the struggle with all the mysteries of 
Webster's Spelling-book. It stood on the ground where Dr. Spear 
afterwards built his residence, on the edge of the village. A 
strip of woods intervened between it and my father's residence, 
and the great poplar trees in the springtime, used to drop their 
sweet bloom on the pathway of the children as they wended their 
way to school. The house was built of split logs put up edgewise; 
the floor was of puncheons. The windows were made by cut- 
ting out parts of two logs next to and parallel to each other, 
and instead of glass, greased paper was used. There was a large 
chimney at each end of the house built of stones, sticks and clay. 
Long, inclined boards along the side and end of the school house 
were made for those who were worrying with pot hooks and other 
exercises in writing. There were no metallic pens in those days, and 
the making and mending of quill pens and setting copies occupied 
much of the time of the teachers in and out of school. All the bench- 
es were narrow, hard and without backs, and those for little children, 
as I well remember, were a weariness to the flesh. Nevertheless, the 
scholars generally were ruddy and happy, and, I suppose, were well 
instructed. The masters usually were Scotch or Irish, who believed 
in doing a good day's work every day themselves, and required the 
children to do the same. Good beech switches were always on hand 
back of the teacher's chair ready for use, and I can bear testimony 
that they were used. The excitement of the day commenced toward 
the close of school in the afternoon, when all the recitations were 
over except the spelling lessons, and the children were told to learn 
them. These lessons we were permitted to learn aloud, and then 
Babel was turned loose. Every scholar with his spelling-book in 
hand spelled, or pretended to spell, the words at the very top of his 
voice. We almost mad^ the clap-boards on the roof rattle. Some- 
times in the evening the older boys would have exercises in dialogues 
and declamations. I can now almost see the tallow dips and the lard 
Aladdin-shaped lamps that used dimly to illuminate the school-house 



8 

on such occasions. But boys and girls were being educated in that 
school-house who have since appeared where the gas light burned 
brightly. One of the favorite scholars was the amiable and gifted 
man who as a boy bora the name of Noble, but afterwards made him- 
self known in the world of letters as Noble Butler. His brother was 
a pupil there also. We boys called him "Jack" for short, but tho 
people who now know him well speak respectfully of him as Judge 
Butler. Another of those boys, James A. Maxwell, was an honored 
Judge in Mississippi, for many years, so much respected there that he 
was continued in office during the war, though he never yielded in 
any way to the demands of secession. But this address cannot be 
protracted by ever so brief biographical sketches. This school-house 
was also used for a place of worship. There was not then a school 
such as is now called a public school in the State of Indiana. As I have 
said before, the first settlers in this neighborhood were principally 
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and by the early establishment on this 
frontier of schools for instruction in the Latin Language, with the 
fidelity of their race and religion, they carried out that requirement 
of the first book of discipline in the Scotch Church, which was that 
u a school should be established in every parish for the instruction of 
youth in the principles of religion, grammar and the Latin tongue.' 7 
This requirement bears date sixty years before the landing of the Pil- 
grims on Plymouth Bock. For religious instruction, we used ihe 
New Testament as a reading book, and for the same purpose the his- 
torical books of the Old Testament. We were thoroughly instructed 
m all ''the Lord said unto Moses." In that school-house Latin was 
first taught in this neighborhood. 

HANOVER. CHURCH. 

Presbyterians in this neighborhood in December, 1819, subscrib- 
ed two hundred dollars for one-half the time of Rev. Thomas 0. 
Searls, who was then preaching to the church in Madison, and this 
seems to have been the first arrangement for regular preaching here. 
This little book, or. so much of it as I show you here, contains an ac- 
count of the organization of Hanover Church. The following is a list 
of the original members as herein recorded: Williamson Dunn, Mi- 
riam Dunn, Eleanor Dunn, Robert Symington, Nancy Symington, 
William Heed, Mrs. Reed, Win. Alexander, Jane Spear, Hugh Linn, 
Mary Linn, Mrs. Maxwell, Benj. Smyth, Mrs. Smyth, George Logan, 
Susan Logan, Mary Wallace, Nathaniel Wallace, Mrs. Loring, Senith 
Mount, Elizabeth Davis and Martha Woods, twenty-two in all. Many 
of these persons had previously been members of the Presbyterian 



9 

Church in Madison. This organization was effected in February, 1820, 
and the following persons were elected the first officers of the Church: 
George Logan, William Alexander, Robert Symington, and William- 
son Dunn, ruling elders; Benjamin Smyth and Hugh Linn, deacons. 

The Church at this place was named Hanover as a compliment 
to the wife of Reverend Mr. Searls, she having been previously to her 
marriage, a resident of Hanover, New Hampshire, where Dartmouth 
College is situated, of which college Mr. Searls was a student 
and a graduate. The post-office took its name from the Church, 
as did the neighborhood, the village, the township, the acade- 
my and the college. The first anl only Presbyterian Church edifice 
ever erected here was a stone building commenced in 1823, which 
stood near where the public school building now stands, on a part of 
my father's quarter section. Previously thereto, religious services 
were held in the school-house and dwelling houses in the winter, and 
in groves and barns in summer, the threshing floor of Maxwell's barn 
furnishing the auditorium on all grand occasions in the neighbor- 
hood. The Rev. John Finley Crowe was the first pastor of this 
church, and seems to have entered upon his duties as such in June, 
1823. In reading over the brief record contained in this book, I have 
been much interested to observe with what solicitude and kindness 
the pastor and elders watched over their flock. While careful that 
the good name of the Church should not suffer from the misconduct of 
any of its members, in the few cases of discipline recorded, there is 
manifested great consideration for the feelings and reputation of the 
persons of whose conduct the Session felt it their duty to take notice. 
As an illustration of a condition of things, now happily passed away, 
the following extract is made from the record of this Church in re- 
gard to one of its colored members: 

"June 28, 1827, Nancy Gray, colored woman, appeared before the Session and reported herself as 
living with William Gray, never having had the rites of matrimony celebrated, this in conse- 
quence of their being in slavery at the time they came together." 

Whereupon the Session appointed Elders Symington and Logan 
to visit the parties, give them such instruction as they might seem to 
need and report to the Session, which then adjourned to meet the 4th 
of July at four o'clock. As the result of their visit, the committee 
then reported that William and Nancy Gray had presented them- 
selves before the Rev. J. F. Crowe, having obtained license of the 
County Clerk, and were regularly joined in the bonds of matrimony. 
This disposition of the case was satisfactory and the member freed 
from further censure. As one of the results of the great war, people 
of color in every part of this country can now be joined together in 



10 

the holy bonds of matrimony according to the Lord's ordinance, with 
none, for this reason, to molest them or make them afraid. Under 
the pastorate of Mr. Crowe the Church increased greatly in numbers 
and grew strong in Christian grace and usefulness. 

When my father removed to Crawfordsville, in 1823, Mr. Will- 
iam Reed, the father oi Rev. Dr. Reed, who is next to address you, 
was elected an elder in my father's place, and soon afterwards John 
Houston and Samuel Smock were added to the eldership. 

My feelings were recently somewhat shocked by reading a pub- 
lication in which this stone church edifice is described as looking like 
an old still-house. I entered this church for the first time after my 
father returned here with his family in 1829, and when I did so it 
was the first Presbyterian -'meeting-house" I had ever been in, and, 
indeed, though I was then in the fifteenth year of may age, it was the 
only "meeting-house" I had ever been in except a little Methodist 
gable ended one at Bloomington. It made a great difference at that 
time in the impression made upon you whether you approached this 
k - meeting-house" from the east or west. I came to it from the west, 
and was impressed with the greatness of its proportions, its high pul- 
pit, its stiffbacked seats, and the large wooden pillars that supported 
the ceiling. 

A postoffice was first established here in December, 1830, and 
Rev. John Finley Crowe was the first postmaster. The office was 
called South Hanover, because there was another postoffice in Shelb} r 
county called Hanover. That office was subsequently discontinued 
or its name changed, and then the prefix w 'South" was dropped from 
the name of the office here. 

The plat of Honover village was recorded in 1832. 

HANOVER ACADEMY. 

The sources of great rivers are generally found in mountain 
springs or lakes in the woods. Every great human enterprise may be 
traced to obscure beginnings. When the mountain streams and 
tributaries from the almost unknown lakes become united they con- 
stitute great rivers. So influences from obscure places may unite 
and result in enterprises of great good to mankind. We have bucL a 
union of influences now brought together. A neighborhood com 
posed mainly of Scotch Irish Presbyterians, a school house in which 
their children were afforded the best opportunities for education at 
that time possible in this State, and a church, composed of zealous 
Christian men and women. Here were elements ior usefulness if 

properly organized. Then came the Rev. John Finley Crowe, and 



11 

became the pastor of this church. He had the wisdom to unite the 
influences of this neighborhood, this school-house and this church 
for the further promotion of Christian education. The result was an- 
other log cabin erected near his dwelling, where he received six stu- 
dents for higher instruction. This was January 1st, 1827. From this 
came Hanover Academy. 

I have procured from the office of the Secretary of State, in In- 
dianapolis, copies of the several acts of the Legislature of Indiana 
relating to the literary institutions located at this place. The first is 
an act approved January 6th, 1829, and is entitled ''An act to Incor- 
porate Hanover Academy." This act is preceded by the following 
preamble : 

Whereas, It has been represented to this General Assembly that a number of citizens of Jeffer- 
son County, residing in the vicinity ol Hanover in said county, have, by the aid of private con- 
tributions, established an Academy at Hanover, by means of which a liberal education may be ac- 
quired by the youth of that vicinity ; and whereas, it is represented to this General Assembly 
that an act to incorporate the said Academy would greatly promote the laudable object of the 
citizens aforesaid." 

And thereupon, it was enacted that John Fi nley Crowe, James 
H. Johnson, Williamson Dunn, George Logan, John M. Dickey, Sam- 
uel G. Lowry, Samuel Smock, William Reed, Samuel Gregg and Jere- 
miah Sullivan should be, and they were thereby constituted a body 
corporate and politic to be known by the name of the Trustees of 
Hanover Academy, and were granted the usual powers and subjected 
to the usual liabilities of such corporations. The Trustees of said 
Academy were authorized to put the same under the direction and 
supervision of any body of learned men and to receive donations and 
legacies of personal and real estate. It was carefully provided, how- 
ever, that the land to be held by said corporation at any one time 
should not exceed 160 acres. In 1829 the Academy was placed under 
the care of the Synod of Indiana. The following resolution was 
adopted by the Synod : 

Resolved, That this Synod adopt Hanover Academy as a synodical school, provided that the 
Trustees of the same will permit the Synod to establish a Theological Department, and appoint 
Theological Professors." 

The condition was readily granted, and the Synod unanimously 
elected the Rev John Matthews, D. D., of Shepherdstown, Virginia, 
to the chair of Theology. Dr. Matthews accepted, and, with charac- 
teristic zeal, gave his whole time and talents to the interests of the 
institution. The Theological Department was continued at Hanover 
until 1810, when it was removed to New Albany, Indiana. It was 
subsequently removed to Chicago, where it is now situated, and 
known as the Northwestern Theological Seminary of the Presbyte- 
rian Church. 



12 

During this year (1829) an academy building was erected of 
brick,, about forty feet long, twenty-six feet wide and two stories 
high. It was located on the quarter-section heretofore mentioned on 
what had been my father's sugar camp. It was constructed mainly 
by the contributions and labor of the people of the neighborhood and 
of Madison — much after the manner that the ^Children of Israel," 
when the tabernacle was to be built in the wilderness, "brought a 
willing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman whose hearts 
made them willing to bring gifts." Similarly, for our wilderness 
enterprise, any and all useful gifts were acceptable and accepted. 
I remember that one of the contributors, who probably had more 
live stock than money, gave a horse, which was utilized in the work 
of construction and very appropriately called "Donum" 

In 1832, the Trustees of the Academv erected a three-storv 
building, of which the body of what is now the village church was 
the first story. The new building was connected with the old struct- 
ure, which stood just east of it. 

By an act of the Legislature, amendatory of the preceding one, 
approved February 2d, 1832, authority was granted to the Trustees 
of the Academy to hold a permanent landed estate to an amount not 
exceeding 640 acres. 

HANOVER COLLEGE. 

At the same session of the Legislature, my father visited the 
State Capital and made an effort to procure a college charter for the 
Academy. This effort was defeated by his brother-in-law, Dr. David 
H. Maxwell, then President of the Board of Trustees of the State Col- 
lege at Bloomington. The bill for the incorporation of Hanover Col- 
lege had parsed the House, been sent to the Senate and referred by 
that body to their Committee on Education, of which Hon. James B. 
AVhitcomb, Senator from the Bloomington district, was a member. 
He was afterwards Governor of the State and United States Senator. 
He was instructed by the Committee to report the bill back to the 
Senate with the recommendation that it be passed. About this time, 
Senator Whitcomb received a letter from Dr. Maxwell, strongly urg- 
ing him to defeat the bill chartering Hanover College, and Senator 
Whitcomb managed to do so, in a way not unknown to modern times, 
that is by pocketing the bill. This defeat caused a pretty sharp cor- 
respondence between the two brothers-in-law; Dr. Maxwell maintain- 
ing that it was better that the few active friends of education in the 
State should unite in the support of one college and make it prosper- 
ous and efficient rather than that they should fritter away their 



13 

strength on several weak colleges. My father maintained, on the 
other han'l, that there should be no monopoly in education, that the 
people should have as many colleges as they were willing to support, 
and informed the Doctor pretty plainly that he would have better 
success the next time he applied for a charter for Hanover College. 
He attended the next meeting of the General Assembly of the State 
and procured the passage of an act, which was approved January 1st, 
1833, to amend the act incorporating Hanover Academy, changing 
the name of the institution to Hanover College, and conferring upon 
it all the usual powers of collegiate corporations. This act, however, 
was not procured without much difficulty. Its passage was vigorous- 
ly opposed by the friends of the State College, and also by many 
members of the Legislature, who were averse to chartering sectarian 
institutions, and especially the Presbyterian ones, on account 
of the great prejudice prevailing at that time against Presby- 
terians, mainly because of their opposition to the carrying of 
the mails on Sunday. I have heard my father say that this charter 
would probably not then have been procured, had it not been for 
the earnest efforts «>f Hon. John Dumonr. State Senator from Switz- 
erland County. Afterwards, when Mr. Dumont was a candidate 
for Governor, we gave him a strong vote in this township, although 
the State policy advocated by him was not the popular one here. The 
news of the passage of the act did not rea *h this village by railroad, 
or by telegraph, or telephone; but when it was received, it created an 
excitement as intense as if it had come by either of those ways. By 
the aid of tallow-dips an impromptu illumination of the Academy — 
now a College Building — was gotten up, and, we, villagers, Faculty 
and students, experienced as much joy, individually and collectively, 
as could well be contained by a community of its size. 

By the second section of this act, it was provided that the stu- 
dents in said college of sufficient bodily ability, should, during the 
time they continued as such, be exercised and instructed in some 
species of mechanical or agricultural labor in addition to the scien- 
tific and literary branches there taught, and that the Trustees should 
annually report to the Legislature the plan, progress and effects of 
such agricultural and mechanical exercise and instruction upon the 
health, studies and improvement of the students. 

The organization of classes under the college charter was made 
in May at the opening of the next session. There were then two ses- 
sions a year of five months each, the vacations being April and Octo- 
ber. At that time, my connection with the institution commenced, 



14 

as I had been elected Principal of the Preparatory Department. 
Whilst all were called students, fully two-thirds of those in attend- 
ance were in this department, and at least half of my pupils were older 
than myself. I had to teach Geography, Arithmetic, English Grammar, 
Algebra, Latin and Greek. The lesson, of the first class that recited to 
me was in Virgil, and the class consisted, according to my recollec- 
tion, of about forty students. There was at that time a large influx 
of students of an age greater than that of those usually in colleges. 
This was mainly due to the manual labor S3 7 stem. These young men 
had come, not to pass away time, but to get an education, (most 
of them having in view the Christian ministry), and were, as a 
body, the most diligent and faithful students I ever knew. I have 
seen men who afterwards became distinguished Doctors of Di- 
vinity, physicians, lawyers, professors in colleges and followers of 
other useful vocations, cutting cord wood, mauling rails, working in 
the cooper shop, in the printing office, shoving the plane, working as 
farm hands, or otherwise engaged in manual labor to defray the ex- 
penses of their education. 

The students generally were anxious to become good speakers. 
and the woods were full of embryo orators declaiming from the tops 
of rocks, from under waterfalls, everywhere, indeed, where they 
could find a secluded place. I remember that one of the stoutest and 
oldest students in the college dug a cellar for my father. I used to 
envy him his great muscles and feel a regret that such strength should 
be diverted from laborious physical employment. Not long after 
this cellar-digging, a traveling elocutionist made his appearance in 
Hanover, and organized a very large class from among the students, 
for afternoon exercises. He had a paper covered with extracts of 
poetry and prose. Among these was an extract from Paradise Lost, 
'•Eve's lamentation upon being expelled from Paradise." About this 
time, I was out in the far corner of my father's meadow, late one af- 
ternoon in haying time, helping about the work, when I heard a voice 
of what appeared to be a woman in greatest distress over in the 
woods, in a grape-vine thicket beyond the meadow. Immediately I 
scaled the fence, pitch fork in hand, determined as a true knight to 
rescue the dame or damsel in distress, when, upon approaching near 
enough to get a view, I found it was my cellar digger student prac- 
ticing on ''Eve's Lamentation. " I did not kill him, but, leaving him 
in his agony, returned to mj' work and thrust the prongs of my blood- 
less fork into the inoffensive hay. The next afternoon, lie got oil' his 
recitation in the college chapel, exciting more the laughter than the 



15 

tears of his audience. Excellent man as he was, he did not prove a 
success in the role of Eve. 

I continued to be Principal of the Preparatory Department for 
two years, and usually taught seven hours a day, four in the morn- 
ing and three in the afternoon. Sometimes when the recitations were 
over I could scarcely stand up; all this for three hundred dollars a 
year. Then I was elected to a professorship in the college, to take 
effect after a year's absence, which I spent at Yale. When I returned 
I entered upon the duties of Professor of Mathematics. Prof. Har- 
ney, who had previously filled that position, had, at his own request, 
been transferred to the chair of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, etc. 
Although my duties as Professor of Mathematics were far easier than 
those I had discharged as Principal of the Preparatory Department, 
the pay was much better — eight hun-lred dollars per annum. I have 
found, through the experience of a long life, that usually the higher 
the position and the better the pay, the less is the drudgery to be 
performed. 

You observed that one provision of the college charter required 
that the Board of Trustees should make a report of its affairs to the 
Legislature at every session. Many of these reports were submitted 
and were printed by the Legislature, us its journals show, but, after 
the mo-t diligent search made at the State Capital at my request, a 
copy of but one of these could be found, viz : the one presented to 
the Legislature December IT, 1834, and subscribed "John Matthews, 
Chairman of the Executive Committee, Board of Trustees," frem 
which excellent report I quote the following: 

"Less than eight years ago a little grammar school of six scholars commenced on the manual 
labor system, formed the nucleus of Hanover College, which numbers at this time nearly two 
hundred students And that intellectual improvement is not impeded by two or three horns 
per diem, devoted to some healthful employment, the trustees are happy to be able to appeal 
to those gentlemen who have attended the examination of their students, being persuaded that it 
would bear a comparison with the examination of students of the same grade in any of the colleges of 
the West. Vigorous health and an almost entire freedom from those diseases to which students 
and men of sedentary habits are subject, form no unimportant item in the good effects of the sys- 
tem. This is conspicuously shown in our institution. Dyspepsia is scarcely known by name, and 
there has but one death occurred among the students since its organization, and that was a year 
and a half ago, by cholera. Jn fine, the spirit of independence and enterprise, together with the 
habits of industry and economy generated and cherished by the system, should be' sufficient to 
recommend it to all patriots and philanthropists, were there no other good effects resulting from it. 
Of the College, the Faculty at present consists of the following gentlemen, viz: 

James Blythe, D. D., President. 

John F. Crowe, A. M., Vice-President. 

John H. Harney, A. M., Professor of Mathematics. 

M. A. H. Niles, A. M.. Professor of Languages. 

W. M. Dunn, A B., Principal of the Preparatorv Department. 

C. K. Thompson, A. B ., Tutor. 
The College proper is divided into four regular classes, comprehending altogether about eighty 
students. Connected Avith these are the preparatory and scientific departments, comprising some- 
thing above a hundred. * * * * At this moment of religious and political excitement* 



' 



/ 



16 

■when other institutions, both in the East and in the West, have been convulsed by a spirit of dis- 
organization, it is peculiarly pleasing to find so large a number of young gentlemen collected 
trom eight or nine different States, manifesting towards each other no other feelings than those 
of fraternal affection. While there is a careful avoidance of the inculcation of purely sectarian 
principles, the great and fundamental doctrines of the Bible are not only made the basis and 
standard of morality, but daily impressed upon the minds of the students as worthy of their most 
serious attention. 

In conclusion, the trustees have only to regret that they are unable, for want of funds, to carry 
out their plans and the consequent hazard to which the experiment is unavoidably exposed." 

It may be asked how could so great a number of students be ac- 
commodated with board and lodging. Nearly every farm-house in the 
neighborhood received them as boarders at low rates ; almost every 
house in the village was filled to its utmost capacity with them, and 
most of the second and all of the third story of the college building was 
divided off into lodging-rooms. Then there was a hotel owned by the 
college, which was afterwards burned down. The college corporation 
also erected a row, containing eight or ten rooms for students, known 
as '^Bachelors' Row." Some students built rooms for themselves ; many 
clubbed together in messes, thus materially reducing their expenses ; 
others did their own cooking in their rooms. Indeed, this village was 
then a perfect hive of busy students. There was no college in the 
West so accessible. There were no railroads in the West at that time, 
and long journeys were usually made by water. Students could reach 
Hanover, as they did, in that way, from all parts of the Mississippi 
valley. 

But the manual labor system ultimately failed, as seemed to be 
rather foreboded in Dr. Matthews' report, and that failure caused a 
great dispersion of students. This system failed because either the 
students had to be paid much more for their labor than it was worth, or 
the amount they would receive therefor would be too small to be of any 
material help to them. The college corporation, in striving to encourage 
the students by high wages, became bankrupt. 

THE BRIDGE. 

The people and students who were here before 1835, do not only 
remember how muddy were our streets, but they will particularly re- 
member the difficulty of making the steep and slippery ascent to the 
college from the west. To remove this difficulty, the ladies held a fair 
in the college to raise funds for the erection of a bridge, and, principal 
ly, by the funds so raised, a bridge was constructed, which proved to 
be a great convenience. Not long after the construction of this bridge 
and before there were any railroads in Indiana, Hon. Richard W. 
Thompson, late Secretary of the United States Navy, in driving with his 
wile in his carriage from Madison to Bedford, in this State, where he 
then resided, stopped for the night at the village hotel we then had here. 



i 



17 

Taking a walk together next morning, when crossing this bridge their 
eyes being blinded by the rays of the rising sun, they did not observe 
that some planks had been removed from the bridge, and so Mrs. Thomp- 
son fell through down upon the rocks and was so badly injured that she 
was obliged to remain some time here under medical treatment. The 
planks, it was supposed, had been removed by some mischevious stu- 
dent, whose recklessness barely escaped causing a homicide. 

THE TORNADO. 

On the 4th of July, 1837, there passed over this place shortly be- 
fore sun-down, a tornado or cyclone, which I venture to say has not- 
been forgotten by any who witnessed it. The afternoon had been close 
and sultry. My sister had two young lady friends visiting her that- 
evening and Eev. Mr. Mills, a young minister from New Jersey, who 
was at that time supplying the church of this place, was also of the 
company. Stepping to the front door after tea, I noticed the clouds in 
the west were very black and in tumultuous commotion. The tornado 
came rushing on the wings of the wind and struck the west end of our 
house with a violence which it seemed as if nothing could resist. The 
ladies were terribly frightened ; indeed so much so that I had great 
difficulty in keeping the two visitors from rushing out of the house to 
seek their home, so alarmed were they for the safety of the loved ones 
there. Mr. Mills, looking from the window, frightened them still more 
as he announced the destructive progress of the storm. "There," said 
he, "goes the big locust tree," and "There," he exclaimed, "goes the 
roof off Dr. Matthews' house. Oh! the college is blown to pieces! 
and there goes Prof. Niles' house, all of it." The tornado caused this 
destruction almost as rapidly as Mr. Mills told of it. Dr. Matthews' 
house, which was unroofed, was the house now owned by Mrs. Eastman. 
The roof and third story of the college were, in effect, destroyed, and 
what had been the first academy building adjoining the college, was 
blown down to the very foundation stones. The home of Prof. Niles, 
who was then with his family visiting in the East, a frame house with 
verandahs to the lower and upper stories, was so completely demol- 
ished that even the ground floor with heavy oak sills was carried some dis- 
tance from the foundation. His furniture and books were carried off. 
Some of the latter, together with love letters which had paseed between 
himself and wife before they were married, were scattered about across 
the river on the Kentucky hills, and carried even as far as Carrollton. 

The tops of the trees were twisted off down the deep ravine on the 
right and up the hill-side over the river, leaving the course of this tor- 
nado well marked for many years, and perhaps still to be seen. The 



18 

tornado was followed by a very heavy fall of rain. The scene at the col- 
lege chapel at prayers next morning was enough to discourage almost any 
heart. As the Faculty and students walked in, the broken glass on the 
floor was crunched beneath their feet, and hardly could they find dry 
places upon which to be seated. 

Those were doleful days for Hanover. But when everything else 
fails in regard to this college, then the work of prayer and faith seems 
to gain additional strength. The congregation here had torn down 
their old stone church edifice and raised about fifteen hundred dollars 
for building a new one on the old site. An arrangement was made be- 
tween the Trustees of the Church. and the Trustees of the College by 
which this church subscription was turned over for the repair of the 
college, and the congregation thereby secured the College Chapel per- 
manently as their house of worship. By this means and such dona- 
tions as could be raised, the third story of the college edifice was wholly 
taken down, a new roof put on and other repairs made so far as there 
were means to make them. 

At the close of the session after the tornado I resigned my Pro- 
fessorship on account of the financial embarrassments of the college, 
I severed my relations with the Faculty and students with great regret, 
the most cordial good will having always existed between us. Dr. 
Blythe, the first President of the College had previously been Presi- 
dent of Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky. He was a 
man of exalted Christian character, of enthusiastic nature and drew to 
himself the warm affection of all who knew him. Dr. Matthews, who 
succeeded him as acting President, was an Apostle Paul in his strong 
convictions, logical force and earnest Christian character. Of Dr. 
Crowe, who was the Vice President of the College, I need not speak 
here to you. His memory is enshrined in all your hearts. 

Professor Harney was a stalwart, physically and mentally. Years 
afterwards, when he was editor of the Louisville Democrat, he bravely 
held aloft his country's banner when the fury of rebellion raged all 
around him. Professor Niles was an excellent scholar and a faithful 
and efficient instructor. He did not return here after the destruction 
of his house and property. He became pastor of a Congregational 
Church in Massachusetts. Tutor Thompson was for many years one of 
the most faithful and useful ministers in the Presbyterian Church in 
this State. All these blessed men, with whom I was associated so early 
in life, have passed away; "and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." 

SURRENDER OF THE COLLEGE CHARTER. 

Here I might end this address, for I have, as best I could, per- 
formed the duty assigned to me on this occasion to give a sketch of the 
u early history" of Hanover College, but as I have copies of acts 
of the Legislature which have had great influence on the career of 
this institution, I think it best to complete its legislative record. I will 



19 

pass over all the intervening history between the close of my connec- 
tion with the Faculty to the surrender of the College charter to the 
State Legislature. This surrender was brought about through the great 
influence of the Rev. Dr. E. D. McMaster, President of the College. 
While we may greatly regret the course he pursued in this regard, we 
do not withdraw from him our admiration for his character, or our high 
appreciation of his scholarship and ability and success as an instructor. 
He procured a charter for a University to be located at Madison, and 
an act approved January 18th, 1844, which recited that, 

"Whereas, The Trustees of Hanover College have proposed to surrender to the General As- 
sembly of the State of Indiana, the charter of the College and to dissolve the said corporation on 
certain conditions by them stated, and have requested the said General Assembly to take the 
necessary and proper measures for the settlement of the pecuniary affairs of said corporation." 

It was, therefore, enacted that the act creating Hanover College be 
repealed, and that the Governor should appoint some suitable person 
as receiver or trustee for the settlement of the pecuniary affairs of said 
corporation, who was authorized to sell all its property, real and per- 
sonal, and to apply the proceeds to the payment of its debts. 

The Governor appointed me receiver under this act. The corpor- 
ation was insolvent, very. 1 proceeded to sell at public auction all its 
property. I stood on the platform where I had so often sat as a mem- 
ber of the Faculty, and sold the college edifice, performing the duties 
of auctioneer myself to save expenses. "Going ! Going ! Going ! Gone," 
struck off to Williamson Dunn, the only bidder, for the nominal sum 
of four hundred dollars. By the same act it was provided that if there 
should be any surplus of effects after paying all the debts of the cor- 
poration, such surplus thereby was granted and given to the Trustees of 
the Madison University. It was further provided that the Union Lit- 
erary and Philalathean Societies should thereafter sustain the same re- 
lation to the Madison University that they had previously sustained to 
Hanover College. 

An additional section of this law revived the act incorporating 
Hanover Academy, and provided that John Finley Crowe, Tilley H. 
Brown, Williamson Dunn, George Logan, William Reed, John M. 
Young, James H. Graham, Thomas D. Young, Robert Symington, Ja- 
cob Haas and John D. Smock should be Trustees under the provision, of 
said act, and that all the privileges, immunities and property possessed 
and held by said corporation at the time of its incorporation or erection 
into a college should be restored. 

THE RE-CHARTER OF HANOVER COLLEGE. 

The experiment of establishing a university at Madison failed main- 
ly for the reason that the Synod of Indiana refused to accept it as a 
substitute for Hanover College. The result was that an act to re-char- 
ter Hanover College passed by the General Assembly of the State, and 
approved December 24, 1844, enacted that John Finley Crowe, Wil- 
liamson Dunn, James Henderson, Daniel Lattimore, Tilley H. Brown, 
James A. McKee, Thomas W. Hynes, Robert Symington, John D. Smock, 
James H. Graham, David Monfort, Jacob Haas, Thomas D. Young, John 
M. Young, George Logan and William Reed, should be constituted a 



20 

body corporate by the name and style of the Trustees of Hanover Col- 
lege, to have succession and exist forever, with the customary powers of 
college corporations. This charter further provided that "one-half of 
the Board of Trustees should be filled by the Board itself, the other half 
by the Synod of Indiana, in connection with the General Assembly of 
the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, commonly 
known and distinguished as the Old School Presbyterian Church." 

The Legislature also passed acts rescinding the acts transferring 
the Union Literary and Philalathean Societies to the Madison Univer- 
sity. This I believe is a full history of all the legislation respecting the 
literary institutions established in this place up to and including the 
act restoring the College Charter. 

CONCLUSION. 

Begging the pardon of this patient audience for detaining them so 
long, I will conclude my remarks by repeating almost verbatim a part 
of the address which, as the representative of the Board of Trustees, I 
delivered here twenty-four years ago to the Rev. Dr. Wood on his in- 
auguration as President of this College : 

From the College edifice, "-beautiful for situation as Mount Zion," 
we may now look down upon the Ohio, flowing in its peaceful course, 
without a murmur and almost without a ripple on its quiet surface. 
That river has had its flood time, when its swollen waters could have 
floated the commerce of the world. It has had its summer droughts 
when the fountains of its supply, in mountain and valley, were well 
nigh dried up ; when the great red sun, day after day, poured down 
upon its bosom his fervid rays, drinking up its w T aters and laying bare 
its depths. It has had its autumn mists and fogs, filling its valley from 
hill top to hill top, and burying it from sight. It has had its winter, 
when its chilled waters were locked in icy chains, and, to the eye, it 
moved not but was dead. But look ! there it is to-day, a constant ever- 
useful stream, winding its peaceful course through the beautiful hills of 
the lovely landscape before us. Like to these are the vicissitudes 
through which this college has passed. It has had its flood-time of pros- 
perity, when students crowded its halls, so that there was not room to 
receive them. It has had its summer droughts, when its resources were 
exhausted ; and its autumn when gloom and discouragement as a cloud 
enveloped it. It has had its winter too, cold and dreary, when it stiff- 
ened in the firm frost. Then its enemies exclaimed: "It is dead!" and 
its friends, with hands hanging down in sorrow, seemed to answer: "It 
is dead! It is dead !" But yet Hanover College lives. It is a thing of 
life like that beautiful river. The fathers, who founded it in faith and 
prayer, have all passed away. Their sons and other friends have arisen 
in their places to cherish and care for the institution which the fathers 
founded; and thus we trust it shall be from generation to generation, 
and that so long as that river shall flow, marking its course by the ver- 
dure of its banks and the fruitful ness of its valleys and hills, so long- 
shall this College remain, marking its course in the history of our race 
by the rich blessings it shall confer on mankind. 



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